An Essay on Man: To which are Added, the Universal Prayer, and Other ...

Thus shall mankind his guardian care engage, The promis'd father of the future age. No more shall nation against nation rise, Nor ardent warriors meet with hateful eyes, Nor fields with gleaming steel be cover'd o'er, The brazen trumpets kindle rage no more; But useless lances into scythes shall bend, And the broad falchion in a ploughshare end. Then palaces shall rise: the joyful son Shall finish what his short-liv'd sire begun: Their vines a shadow to their race shall yield, And the same hand that sow'd, shall reap the field, The swain in barren deserts with surprise Sees lilies spring, and sudden verdure rise; And starts, amidst the thirsty wilds to hear New falls of water murm’ring in his ear. On rifted rocks, the dragon’s late abodes, The green reed trembles, and the bulrush nods: Waste sandy vallies, once perplex’d with thorn. The spiry fir and shapely box adorn : To leafless shrubs the flow’ring palms succeed, And od’rous myrtle to the noisome weed. The lamb with wolves shall graze the verdant mead And boys, in flow’ry bands the tyger lead; The steer and lion at one crib shall meet, And harmless serpents lick the pilgrim’s feet: The smiling infant in his hand shall take The crested basilisk and speckled snake, Pleas'd the green lustre of the scales survey, And with their forky tongue shall innocently play.

Rise, crown'd with light, imperial Salem, rise Exalt thy tow'ry head, and lift thy eyes! See, a long race thy spacious courts adorn; See future sons, and daughters yet unborn, In crowding ranks on ev'ry side arise, Demanding life, impatient for the skies! See barb’rous nations at thy gates attend, Walk in thy light, and in thy temple bend: See thy bright altars throng'd with postrate kings, And heap'd with products of Sabaean springs For thee Idume's spicy forests blow, And seeds of gold in Ophir's mountains glow. See heav’n its sparkling portals wide display, And break upon thee in a flood of day. No more the rising sun shall gild the morn. Nor ev’ning Cynthia fill her silver horn: * But lost, dissolv’d in thy superior rays, One tide of glory, one unclouded blaze O'erflow thy courts: the light himself shall shine Reveal’d, and God’s eternal day be thine! The seas shall waste, the skies in smoke decay, Rocks fall to dust, and mountains melt away; But fix’d his word, his saying pow'r remains; Thy realm forever lasts, thy own Messiah reigns

ODE ON SOLITUDE.

whitTEN by our AUTHOR, ATA BouT TWELVE YEARs 01.1).

HAPPY the man, whose wish and care A few paternal acres bound; Content to breathe his native air, In his own ground.

Bless'd who can unconcern’dly find Hours, days, and years, slide soft away: In health of body, peace of mind, Quiet by day.

Sound sleep by night, study and ease Together mix’d; sweet recreation And innocence, which most does please With meditation.

Thus let me live, unseen, unknown, Thus unlamented let me die: Steal from the world and not a stone Tell where I lie.

ELEGY

s To THE MEMORY OF AN. UNFORTUNATE LADY.

What beck’ning ghost, along the moonlight shade, Invites my step, and points to yonder glade 2 *Tis she —but why that bleeding bosom gor'd 2 Why dimly gleams the visionary sword Oh ever beauteous, ever friendly' tell, Is it in heav’n a crime to love too well? To bear too tender, or too firm a heart, To act a lover's or a Roman's part 2 Is there no bright reversion in the sky For those who greatly think, or bravely die

Why bade ye else, ye pow’rs! her soul aspire Above the vulgar flight of low desire Ambition first sprung from your blest abodes: The glorious fault of angels and of gods ! Thence to their images on earth it flows, And in the breasts of kings and heroes glows. Most souls, ’tis true, but peep out once an age, Dull sullen pris’ners in the body’s cage; Dim lights of life, that burn a length of years, Useless, unseen, as lamps in sepulchres; Like eastern kings, a lazy state they keep, And close confin'd in their own palace, sleep.

From these perhaps (ere nature bade her die) Fate snatch'd her early to the pitying sky.

As into air the purer spirits flow, And sep'rate from their kindred dregs below; So flew the soul to its congenial place, Nor left one virtue to redeem her race.

But thou, false guardian of a charge too good, Thou, mean deserter of thy brother’s blood! See on those ruby hips the trembling breath, These cheeks now fading at the blast of death : Cold is that breast which warm'd the world before, And those love-darting eyes must roll no more. Thus, if eternal justice rules the ball, Thus shall your wives, and thus your children fall: On all the line a sudden vengeance waits, And frequent hearses shall besiege your gates: There passengers shall stand, and pointing say, (While the long fun'rals blacken all the way) Lo these were they, whose souls the furies steel'd, And curs'd with hearts unknowing how to yield, Thus unlamented pass the proud away, The gaze of fools and pageant of a day! So perish all, whose breast ne'er learn'd to glow For others good, to melt at others woe.